ABC News reports that the “Principals Committee,” consisting of Dick Cheney, Condelezza Rice, Donald Rumsfeld, John Ashcroft, George Tenet, and Colin Powell, met in the White House routinely to directly authorize torture techniques to be used on specific detainees, including combinations involving water torture (waterboarding), sleep deprivation, and other methods. This opens them all up for criminal liability under the War Crimes Act and the federal torture statute.

Mr. Bush, where is your signature on all of this? I suppose we will only see that later. Impeachment anyone?

Highlights from the report:

• “According to multiple sources, it was members of the Principals Committee that not only discussed specific plans and specific interrogation methods, but approved them.”
• The Jay Bybee Torture Memo (Aug. 2002) was referred to as the “Golden Shield“ in the CIA.
• Ashcroft (who apparently agreed with the policy and thought it legal) did not, however, want to get into the dirty details and said : “Why are we talking about this in the White House? History will not judge this kindly.“
• Rice (who led the advisor’s group and was reportedly “decisive” on this) pushed the CIA to go torture:“This is your baby. Go do it.“

And, just for the record, because we think this will be important one day:

Rice’s top legal advisor at the time was none other than our illustrious alum, John B. Bellinger III HLS ’86. This is the same guy who followed her to the White House when she became Sec. of State. This is the same guy who wants us to think of him as a knight for human rights in the wilderness of this administration.

The time has come for accountability.